Paedophile ex-teacher found guilty
A CONVICTED Hobart paedophile already behind bars for molesting young boys has been found guilty of further historical child sex crimes against two victims.
Former New Town High and Campania District School teacher Darrel George Harington, 68, shook his head and frowned yesterday as a Supreme Court jury returned guilty verdicts to two counts of indecent assault and one count of maintaining a sexual relationship with a young person under 17.
One of the victims, now 35, said in a statement read to the court that “I’m broken”.
“I was a pretty happy, carefree kid but after meeting Darrel, I have developed a safety barrier,” he said.
“It stops me from being able to feel. I want to care and I want to feel, but I just can’t.
“The shame I have suffered because of these crimes is totally overpowering.”
The man, who was molested by Harington at Lauderdale between 1998 and 2000 when he was aged 13 to 15, said he felt “completely dismayed” when the paedophile’s lawyer suggested he was fabricating the claims for compensation money.
“Darrel ruined me,” he said in his statement, read by Crown prosecutor Jane Ansell.
A statement by the other victim, who was molested by Harington in the 1970s at the paedophile’s Little Swanport farm, was tendered to the court but not read aloud.
The man was aged 13 or 14 when Harington indecently assaulted him, encouraging the child to take part in a masturbation game and waking the child up from sleep by molesting him.
“His conduct was predatory, determined and manipulative,” Ms Ansell said, noting Harington’s “grooming” techniques of giving his victims alcohol and money.
Defence barrister Garth Stevens said the Lauderdale victim’s “grudges” against him should not be part of Justice Michael Brett’s considerations.
But Justice Brett said he couldn’t hold Harington’s right to a trial and legal representation against him.
“The victim impact statements are an opportunity for the victim to express his thoughts about the whole thing and he’s entitled to feel how he feels,” he told the lawyer.
Mr Stevens added Harington had already been in jail for four years, wasn’t eligible for parole until 2022 when he would be 70 years old, and had been threatened with injury and death and “assaulted to the point of unconsciousness”.
In 2015, Harington confessed to eight historical counts of indecent assault.
During the trial, both Crown and defence legal teams agreed Harington had a “tendency” towards “sexual interest in boys between the age of 11 and 16”. Justice Brett adjourned the matter for sentence on March 4.